Le'Veon Bell Admits To Having Made A Mistake Signing With Jets

Hindsight is 20/20 and now, Le'Veon Bell realizes that he may have made a mistake when he signed a deal with the New York Jets in 2019.

Bell somewhat famously sat out the entire 2018 NFL after failing to cut a deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers had drafted him in 2013 and were still annual playoff contenders.

However, after playing the 2017 season under a franchise tag and missing 2018, Bell signed a deal that was around what he turned down from the Steelers to sign with the Jets.

The 2019 Jets were, of course, a far cry from the current iteration of the Jets, which at least attempts to look like it's trying.

Bell said in an interview with the Steel Here podcast that a big reason for going to New York was that his contract was guaranteed. Still, he admitted that he may have made a mistake.

“It was like a little petty, the guarantee stuff... I’m thinking could I have just ate it?” Bell asked, rhetorically. “Yeah, I probably could’ve, yeah, I probably could’ve really ate it.”

Things didn't go well in New York. Bell didn't see eye to with then-head coach Adam Gase when he arrived. The two weren't on the same page about his hamstring injury during the offseason. Then, according to Sports Illustrated, tensions increased after Bell started liking tweets critical of his head coach.

He was released by the Jets in 2020, but signed with the Chiefs. He played for the Ravens and Buccaneers during the 2021 season but hasn't played in an NFL game since then.

Bell has taken up music and boxing since then, but you can't help but wonder what would've happened had he stayed in Pittsburgh.

Follow on Twitter: @Matt_Reigle

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Matt is a University of Central Florida graduate and a long-suffering Philadelphia Flyers fan living in Orlando, Florida. He can usually be heard playing guitar, shoe-horning obscure quotes from The Simpsons into conversations, or giving dissertations to captive audiences on why Iron Maiden is the greatest band of all time.